Resilient element material for vibratory feeders is known to increase feeding speed and force and to have many other advantages such as quiet operation, no marring of parts, and some capacity to let solid or liquid particles run down between the elements while objects move along on the tips of the elements.
The previously preferred resilient element material for vibratory feeders was formed as a multitude of thin monofilaments of resin material set at an approximately uniform angle from the vertical in a base material. These bristle-like elements were about the thickness of natural hairbrush bristles and were formed in a fairly dense array so that the tips of the bristles could support small objects. The uniform incline of all the bristles established the direction of feed of objects and the direction of flexing of the bristles.
The previously preferred bristle pile material for vibratory feeders suffers from several disadvantages, and the invention involves recognition of these. They include high cost and quality-control problems, especially in accurately and uniformly setting the bristle inclination angle. Also, the base for such material includes a foamed resin that sometimes deteriorates in use. Moreover, in some environments, such as washing machines or conveying of parts from machines using coolants or producing metal chips, liquid and dirt particles can form a sludge that mats into the prior art bristles, reduces the conveyor effectiveness, and causes cleaning and maintenance problems.
The invention occurred during a search for a better resilient element material for a vibratory feeder, and the invention aims at low cost, light weight, durability, economical maintenance, high standards of quality control, and ease of manufacture and assembly.